Greetings and welcome to the lifeblood game mode of the Orcs Must Die franchise.

As a first order of bussiness I would like to say that there's no better teacher than experience. If you seem to enjoy the defense game type which Orcs Must Die: Unchained offers I urge you to play through the first two games:

• Orcs Must Die!
  - The first title which is built for solo play and is a very good introduction to new players.
  
• Orcs Must Die! 2
  - The second title which added the feature of 2 player co-op. The levels in this game are based around 2 person gameplay. It is possible to beat the game solo but while they had the 2 player co-op in mind, the levels are more difficult for solo play. (This is a good test to solidify your knowledge and ability from the first game.)

If you play through both games alone you shouldn't need any more help as far as the classic Survival Mode goes.

The lowest difficulty levels of Survival are extremely easy. (You could probably pull it off without placing any traps.) So if you managed to beat it without doing the tutorial DO THE TUTORIAL!

The easy levels only last for so long and in the later levels you and your teammates must have at least a sliver of competence if you want to have any hope of completing the level.

There are several things you should have under your belt before you hit these higher levels.

Remember:
"Knowledge is power!"


See? Zoey gets it!

The matchmaking in this game will be a speed battle which you may not always win. Unless you already have a few bought/crafted heroes.
So when you get put into a group you have two courses of action:

1. If the hero you wanted/needed to play is taken you may leave the game by closing it.
   - Every premature game close leave gives your account an accumulative 5 minute lock out of matchmaking which resets the next game day.
   Since games take around maybe 15 minutes to complete you can still save time after the first or second leave per day. This will hopefully allow the person who took your choice to lose the game and complain about it somewhere and hopefully Robot will look into changing this style of Matchmaking sooner. (They will probably pass it if they try though. The game adjustst difficulty based on how many defenders are in a game.)
   
   
2. If the choice you want is picked before you more than you tolerate you will either quit the game or come to a state of mind where you'll just pick whatever you manage to grab. Before the latter comes to be you should look into every single hero that is available for you to be picked.

Head over to Workshop, then Heroes and then look through each of the heroes and learn what type of play style is beneficial for this character. Taking a few minutes to look through all of this information allows you to make the most out of any character choice rather than playing them completely wrong and complaining that they are simply underpowered.

The first thing you look at are the abilities of the character to see your arsenal is made to go frontline offence or if you'll have to think a little more about when to use what and if you'd want to go near a large group of enemies.

Here's an example on how you'll see the abilities of a hero:
TIP: Mousing over each of the abilities shows a written description and since a picture is worth a thousand words a video will appear upon clicking the play icon on the right of the ability bar.



To be a true rift protecting, enemy slaughtering master of defense you need to be a little more than just a master of abilities. Depending on your situation you might need to be a little more offensive, a little more defensive or a little more rich than you are at the moment.



When you hop into the Upgrades tab you'll see the four tiers of boosts that you'll be able to get as you level your character in every match.

However... "Measure twice, cut once." -Maximilian the War Mage

You are only able to pick one choice from each tier and you can't change it once chosen!

These tiers don't change throughout game modes or difficulty levels so your choices can make your character diametrically different and much better suited for certain type of situations and play styles. Before the game starts you should have a general idea on what you need your character to be in this specific situation and work towards that right from tier 1 upgrades.

As seen above, some classes can gain a substantial amount of coins from some these upgrades too. Utilize them if you have effective traps that you either want more of or are a little bit too expensive for the regular player otherwise.

And now onto the last bit of mandatory information I'd go over that special thing each one of us has. The thing that makes you unique! The thing that makes you you!

What? ...No? I'M BLOODY TALKING ABOUT UNIQUE TRAPS!

Anywho, these traps are -as their name suggests- unique to their specific hero. Having it ONLY means that you have it. It does NOT mean it's supperior to any other trap and that you should place it everywhere you can or use it at all.

If you see your hero with something like this...

...it's a slight indicator that the hero may be more oriented towards siege and that the unique on that hero might be pretty useless for survival and you shouldn't use the block.

Now that you did your homework and soaked up all of the neccessary information you can join a game with the confidence that you'll be the best of the group!

Cool your jets though. Preparation before a game is important but there will come a time when you'll enter a completely new fortress you'll have to defend. You'll be standing there whimpering by the rift damning that guide you read to hell but I'm not done with you yet.

When you enter a game the first thing you want to look at is the map in the top right corner.
This is what you'll have your eyes on when nothing in your direct vicinity requires your attention.

"That's common sense!" I hear you cry. Well right off the bat there are a few things you should learn about the mechanics that work in this game.

1. Enemies are stupid - Sure they can pack a punch and live through two at times but an important thing to realize is how enemy pathing works.
   Once each of the gates activate (Turn red) enemies will choose the shortest path to the Rift. Something like so:
   In reality during the time between the waves, when enemies will come from a gate you can see partially transparent lines and arrows going the exact route the enemy will take. One thing you can notice is that that route will always try to go for the usually shortest route until their AI finds a blocked off path which causes the AI to return and walk all the way back and try the 2nd shortest route and it continues until it finds the shortest clear path to the Rift. This is one of the reasons why you might not want to block some paths at their start but actually near the end. (Also, you can't place barricades anywhere so before you plan, check if you can actually place one in the location you're thinking about.
   The same map but with a few blocked paths:
   Their pathing can be stalled by quite a bit on some maps. When the team split up in every corner of the map making enemy pathing longer might give you just enough time for someone to finish off their lane and come to help you out. (Or the other way around of course.)
   
   WARNING: Just because you block off a path with barricades doesn't necessarily leave you permanently safe. There are so called Leaping enemy types that are able to go over barricades just like your heroes. These are usually hunters. Or enemies that rush for your barricades and aim to destroy them rather than reach the rift.
   
   TIP: If you can, try to join multiple lane paths together which allows more players to stay together defending the wave as well as allowing the entire team to make one effective killbox for more lanes instead of making weak killboxes in each lane separately. This leads me to my second point...
   
   
2. Think of the map as a whole from the start - This means that you should make the mazes I described earlier right from the start or even split the group so at least one person watches a specific lane. 95% of the times I see the group spend money solely on the first lane that is about to open at the start of the game. Usually the first few waves will only come from there but spending all your coins to make a heavy killbox in one lane will often leave you coinless and to make it worse, pretty defenseless on other lanes.
   
   
3. Be watchful - If you enter a new stronghold on which you have yet to play and you do all your preparation mentioned above, don't let your guard down. If you are a ranged hero you are generally better at taking care of kobold runners than melee heroes who are there to tank through a lot of damage.
   If you're split up and you see your lane hasn't sent enemies yet while a Hogarth might have been sent a nice surprise of a battalion of runners. He might have trouble alone and if you are able to do so you should help him. The heroes can take care of most of the regular enemies which is what they are able to do if someone helps out.
   So yeah... Go team!
   
   
4. Stay chained - Sooner or later your most powerfull ability will get a chance to be used. The Unchained meter is something that can change the tide of any battle if used correctly. Unchaining is not mandatory. Going Unchained refills both your health and mana, resets your cooldowns, boosts your damage and shorten your ability cooldowns while it's active.
   A single unchained hero is a force to be reckoned with and is often able to single handedly decimate a huge enemy force.
   Unchain usage should come to play but is not limited to:
   
   • Last wave of the match.
     
   • Stalling a boss and getting badly injured while your fellow rift defenders still have their hands full.
     
   • A force that's a little too large starts nearing the rift.
   You get the idea.
   Unchaining is all but mandatory. Try to use it only at times when it's the very last option you have.

I didn't manage to find any good pictures on these so excuse nearly no accompanying pictures.
If I manage to get my hands on good pictures of the enemy I might create a beastiary or something.

You've started by killing regular orcs and infantry we all know and love by now but truth be told you'll have to build a table of enemy priority in your head before you face an encounter.

The enemies in the game apart from regular and armored orcs will be terribly varied at times. You will often encounter little runner enemies who don't much care about your heroic pressence and will just rush past you to reach the rift. Later some of these will become suicidal bombers and rush to destroy your barricades.
Then you'll find grizzly bears, stunning ogres, shieldbearing enemies who deflect frontal blows, regenerating trolls, hunters who will stop at nothing to kill heroes and so on. The list goes on and on.
The game will send them at you at a pretty steady difficulty curve so you should use the early encounters to find out how to take care of each enemy effectively and watch their icons on the map to assist your fellow rift defenders if the need arises.

Now... Listen up and listen well...
The last bit here might be the most difficult thing you'll have to do at times... But to make rift defenders everywhere proud you will have to do what's right...



Occasionally some heroes seeking rift destruction will stumble upon the battleground... Do not be fooled by their handsomeness... They are evil and provide a defensive buff to all enemies near them.
You've become a rift defender and it is your duty to focus this rogue hero nearly before anything else. Once they set foot on the battleground they must be taken care of quickly or else they will make your murderous killbox and weapons seem like plastic balls to the enemy.

It may be difficult to kill someone you look up to... But you must do it to fulfill your rift defender duty!

I have once experienced two enemy heroes coming onto the battleground without the prior card choice. It might have been a bug or something but just so you know. You should be fine if you keep your eyes on the map often and eliminate the threat before it can cause any serious damage.

Ok so you followed all the advice in this Guide and have managed to beat a pretty difficult level.
Well here's the real review of your ability maggot. After every game you are greeted with a Team info board which you honestly shouldn't care about. What you should care about is the Players tab right next to it.

WARNING: Once you close this screen it can never be opened again!



Your screen will look something like shown above. Instead of merely looking at the green numbers you should see how you fare in comparison to all other players one you've won.

It certainly is good to be best in some aspects but isn't mandatory. If you're not first in a category you shouldn't be trailing far behind the lot. Some levels fit some heroes better than others. As long as you're first or well close to it in every aspect you've learned and may now proudly participate in professional rift defending with the knowledge that you truly are of value to your team!

ᴵᶠ ʸᵒᵘ ˢᵗᶦᶫᶫ ᵈᶦᵈ ᵗᵉʳʳᶦᵇᶫʸ ᴵ ʷᶦᶫᶫ ᵈᵉᶰʸ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ʸᵒᵘ ʰᵃᵛᵉ ᶜᵒʳʳᵉᶜᵗᶫʸ ᵘˢᵉᵈ ᵗʰᶦˢ ᵍᵘᶦᵈᵉ ᵃᶰᵈ ʰᵃᵛᵉ ᶰᵒ ᵈᵉˢᶦʳᵉ ᵗᵒ ᵖᶫᵃʸ ᵃˢˢᶦˢᵗ ʸᵒᵘ ᶦᶰ ᶠᵘᵗᵘʳᵉ ᵈᵉᶠᵉᶰˢᵉˢ⋅

Now that you've learned what it means to be a true rift defender what are you waiting for?

There are always more rifts to defend!

Get on it and make me and Cygnus proud!

﹡ˢᵒᵇ﹡ ᵀʰᵉʸ ᵍʳᵒʷ ᵘᵖ ˢᵒ ᶠᵃˢᵗ⋅⋅⋅